Arts & Crafts Style

Is Greene & Greene actually a part of the Arts & Crafts Movement? Lately, there has been discussion that would bring this into question. It is undeniable that their work was highly refined and stands apart from the other makers of the era. So, is it possible they were simply lumped together with their...

I can’t swear to there being a “cycle” for every Arts & Crafts woodworker. I can only speak to my own experience and add that I have had many nods of agreement when sharing my philosophy. I began building Arts & Crafts pieces, because the sturdy simplicity spoke to me, and the beauty of...

Darrell Peart raised an interesting questions during my recent web seminar on “Unkown Arts & Crafts” for Popular Woodworking University. He noted the similarities between one of Rohlfs’ tables and the poppy table by Gustav Stickley and asked if one maker influenced the other. Both tables share a similar form — trunk-like slab legs...

I once worked with a guy who maintained that white oak wasn’t suited for furniture and that whiskey barrels are a far better use for this wood. Looking at the pile of wood in the photo you might be inclined to agree with that, and there are days when I find myself leaning in...

The magazine stand is one of the signature pieces of the American Arts and Crafts movement, and Charles Limbert’s No. 346 is an especially distinctive take on the form. Two details mark the No. 346 as a Limbert design—the cutouts on the sides and the trapezoidal base. In the spirit of “I Can Do...

I came to work at Popular Woodworking Magazine in a roundabout way. I spent most of my adult life working with wood professionally, and along the way I read a lot of books and magazines. I was passionate about furniture of the Arts & Crafts period, and wished there was a book of measured...

The cover project for the upcoming August 2013 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine is like many of the pieces I’ve made for articles. Picking projects is one of the best parts of my job and when I meet readers, one of the common questions asked is “How do you guys decide what pieces to...

It’s difficult to have a serious conversation about the American Arts & Crafts movement without using the “S” word – Stickley, of course. The iconic, rectilinear and medieval forms of Gustav(e) Stickley, his brothers and the other designers he employed are the nouns and verbs of the Arts & Crafts language – oak, leather, quartersawn,...

I’ve just finished compiling five classic Shaker and Arts & Crafts projects from issues of Woodworking Magazine into one PDF arranged to build the maker’s skills as he or she works through building these classic projects. “Easy Shaker and Arts & Crafts Projects” starts out with Christopher Schwarz’s simple (but handsome) nailed-together Shaker silverware...